The Future Drawn with a Pen (3)

A grand jury was convened for the knight, Maximilian von Ebenholz. It was a jury meant to judge the legality of the disposals he had carried out in the line of duty.

Before and after receiving his knighthood, Maximilian had killed a cadet at Empire Point and a noble-slaying criminal. Compared to the time of the incidents, the grand jury was convened quite late, and even that was only decided after the Imperial Court had dragged its feet on the matter.

This was because no one dared to put the likes of Ebenholz before a grand jury.

"We will now begin the grand jury for Knight Maximilian."

So declared the judge. The grand jury was, in principle, closed to the public. In attendance were the knights, prosecutors, and about twenty citizen jurors representing various walks of life who would judge the situation and the evidence. Besides them, there were only the presiding judge and a couple of specially designated journalists.

The reporter, Alphons, watched the proceedings from the press box.

"First, the items for review are the summary executions of the Empire Point cadet and the noble-slaying criminal. We will begin by hearing the knight's own statement."

Maximilian Ebenholz—a man with blond hair and golden eyes, the very textbook image of the pure Aran the Empire so often depicted—rose to his feet, dressed in the uniform of a Sentinel Knight. At a glance, he looked like a living, breathing propaganda mannequin.

"According to Imperial law, one who murders a noble and one who infiltrates Empire Point under a false identity are both subject to summary execution. Therefore, I judged that there was no need for a trial."

Maximilian defended himself in this manner.

The grand jury itself didn't take long. After a few formal questions and answers, the decision was a unanimous verdict of 'Lawful'.

No one would dare render a different verdict while looking at Maximilian's face, and Alphons, attending as a member of the press, had no right to speak.

"With that, this grand jury is concluded."


Maximilian gave a light bow and left the courthouse.
Alphons hurriedly pursued him.

"Good day!"

Click. He bowed deeply while snapping a picture of the knight's face with his camera, a deliberate provocation.

"I am the reporter Alphons. I'm from the 'Zenith Times'."

Maximilian's brow furrowed slightly, but he soon offered a relaxed smile.

"A pleasure to meet you."

He showed no hostility, nor did he respond with irritation.
Image management, is it?

"Would you be available for a brief interview? Regarding the Jacob Mac and Sana cases."
"Sana?"

He tilted his head at the name 'Sana'.

"Ah, so the name of that noble-slaying criminal I killed back then was Sana."

Alphons let out a hollow laugh.

"Heh. Sir Knight, you don't even remember the name of the child you killed?"
"Is there a reason to remember?"

Reporter Alphons's expression hardened slightly.

"Do you happen to know what that child, Sana, had been through?"

Sana had killed a noble. But she’d had no other choice. That old geezer was human trash, unworthy of the title of noble.
The police investigation had uncovered numerous traces of abuse in the self-proclaimed victim's mansion, and even his own family, ashamed, had hastily tried to bury the case.

"If you didn't know, see for yourself."

Alphons held out an envelope he had prepared. Maximilian willingly took it and opened it. Inside were dozens of photographs.

"He was a pederast. A truly vicious one."

The scenes were so vile they defied description in a single sentence. Maximilian flicked through the photos one by one.

"And you still think there are no extenuating circumstances?"

Maximilian raised an eyebrow once, then nodded his head.

"Yes. It couldn't be helped."
"Couldn't be helped?"
"According to Imperial law, a commoner who murders a noble is subject to summary judgment, regardless of the reason."
"Through a trial…"
"Even with a trial, the result would have been execution. Furthermore, the autopsy revealed the child was of a mixed race. She wasn't an Imperial citizen."

Not an Imperial citizen.

Alphons glared at Maximilian. Maximilian met his gaze without flinching and replied.

"Reporter Alphons. I am also aware that this Ashton was human scum. If he hadn't died."

Maximilian took a step closer.

"I would have cut him down with my own hands."

He looked down at Alphons intently.

"However, the child killed the noble first, and what followed was a legal disposal. So please, don't get too swept up in the emotional aspects."

Maximilian smiled faintly and handed the envelope back.

"Do that, and the world might just end."
"...Excuse me?"

At the inscrutable words, Alphons felt a chill he couldn't comprehend.

"Well then."

Maximilian got into his car. Alphons shouted at the departing man.

"What about the two immigrants who were sentenced to death because of your coercion?!"

He quickly pulled out the draft of the article he would publish today.

That's right, the paper mill incident! A mother and daughter who don't even speak the Imperial language were used by the Revolutionary Army and are now headed for the execution block! Why does no one see that this is exactly what those Revolutionary bastards want…

Vroooooom—!

Staring blankly at Maximilian's receding rear bumper, Alphons spat on the ground.


Money, money, money.
The money was multiplying.

The new facilities, designed according to Lorenzo's theories, dramatically increased mana stone refinement efficiency, and Armand's prototype waterwheel was installed deep within the mine. A state-of-the-art information processing system was imported from the Kanalin Independent State for faster communication and trade.

"It's liquid mana! A mana field has been discovered here as well!"

Veins of ore were discovered one after another in other nearby regions, and Dieter pioneered new sales routes for mana stones, targeting the Mage Towers and magical engineering corporations across the Empire.

In this way, the company stabilized in the blink of an eye.

But mana stones were a vested interest.
This applied not only to the possession of the stones but to the very right to sell them.
The Mage Towers and mages had always purchased mana stones, but their prices were strictly determined by collusion.

Soon enough, the so-called 'Mining Families' would surely start causing trouble.

Whether they were stronger, or Ebenholz was stronger, was something only time would tell.

"Sir Knight!"

Armand came running out from inside the mine, his face bright with excitement.

"Look at this!"
"What is it?"

Armand was wearing a mask over his face. There were originally no safety masks for children, but since the boy practically lived in the mine, Lorenzo had specially made one for him.

"I discovered something!"
"Tell me. What did you discover?"
"The mana stones! When we mine them the current way, they get damaged too much! You know that, right?!"
"They get damaged?"
"Yes! The damage happens because the circuits inside the mana stone get torn."

A mana stone is what's formed when mana seeps into an ordinary, rock-like natural object over a long period, creating a sort of 'mana circuit'. That's why mining it with a pickaxe inevitably tears the circuits.

"So what must be done to prevent the damage?"
"We have to change the pickaxe itself!"
"The pickaxe?"
"Yep! Look!"

The pickaxe currently used in the mine was a specially made invention that used mana to break up bedrock.

"The current pickaxe just focuses on breaking the mana stones with brute force."
"It does."

Armand brought out a pickaxe he had invented himself.

"This is it! Its name is Kitten!"

It looked more like a club than a pickaxe. A fairly large, high-purity mana stone was bluntly embedded in its specially treated tip.

"If you strike an ore vein with this, it resonates with the mana circuits inside the stones. Then, instead of the 'vein' being forcefully broken, it vibrates and shakes itself free. Look!"

As a demonstration, Armand thumped a chunk of rock with a mana stone embedded in it.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

"You hit it for me!"

After striking it for a while, he seemed to tire and suddenly handed it to me.
I swung it down hard.

BOOM!

The mana truly resonated, and the rocks crumbled. Just as Armand had said, it looked as if the mana stone was 'shaking off' the bedrock attached to its body.

"It might take a little more effort than a conventional pickaxe…"
"And the Kitten's price will be much higher, I imagine."
"…Yes. It probably will."

Armand's face fell slightly.

"Does the purity absolutely have to be this high?"
"Yes…. That's the only way to get a strong resonance."

The problem was that every club had to use an expensive, high-purity mana stone. A single one of these would cost a fortune, and it would be a disaster if it broke.
I looked at Armand pensively.

This child was a genius. A genius who even enjoyed it. A born scholar who loved invention for its own sake. It was no wonder Lorenzo had taken him in.

"The idea is good, but…"

Although he wasn't a pure Aran, the process of falsifying his identity was already proceeding smoothly.
In a few years, Armand would be a perfect Aran on paper.

"Wait, Armand. You said you were using the phenomenon of resonance, right?"
"Yes."
"Then, how about this?"
"What is it?"

I gripped the handle of the Kitten.

"We infuse the handle with mana stones as well and carve circuits into it. Even if we lower the purity, we can increase the quantity and add an incantation to amplify the resonance."

When it came to mana, I was an expert. Or at least, the virus inside me was.
Thus, if I could convey the virus's intuition to Armand as a hint…

"Woah… Oh! Wow! I think it'll work! I'll have to think about what kind of circuit to use, but I'll, I'll think about it more!"

The rest was up to Armand.
The boy ran off somewhere, beaming.
I spoke to Dieter, who was standing beside me.

"Dieter. Proceed with the development of the new 'Kitten'… club, as Armand suggested. Get it reviewed by Lorenzo."
"Yes, sir."

Armand was still young. To realize his genius in a more practical way, Lorenzo's help was necessary.

"And we need to build an airport."
"I will look into suitable land in cooperation with the Hermes Province."
"Buy all the land you can. Logistics will be crucial from now on. Airplanes, tanks. We're going to spend as much as we earn, right away."
"Yes, sir."

The Empire must grow stronger. Much stronger than it is now.
Strong enough to handle both the eastern and western fronts simultaneously, and to overwhelm them.


In my study, I was thinking about a new method of knightly mobilization. I was personally writing a new doctrine to replace the old, worn-out manual.
Of course, I was still a green knight with zero years of experience, but it couldn't be helped. If I didn't do it, no one else would bother to change a thing.

"Deploying knights on the ground is extremely inefficient. Concepts like advancing or marching are obsolete relics from an era of fighting on horseback."

Fortunately, the book 『The Reason the Empire Fell』 explained in excruciating detail why the knights had failed.
The knighthood was a long-standing tradition of the Empire. Because of this, they always stood honorably at the very forefront of the battle line. It was terribly inefficient.

"However, once stationed on the battlefield, they inevitably become direct targets for all manner of deadly weapons, including enemy guided missiles, artillery, and snipers. Therefore, a knight should be positioned one step back from the front line, but at the moment of engagement, they should drop directly from the air to strike key targets…"

It was far more efficient.
A knight was a human weapon in and of itself. Deployed in the middle of the enemy's formation, they would tear through the defensive lines; deployed in the rear, a single knight could unleash the destructive power of an entire unit.

The Empire had failed to properly utilize the most powerful weapon in its possession.
I thought to myself as I wrote the manual.
I needed to propose airborne training courses at Empire Point and start airborne training within the Sentinel Knight Order immediately.
As for the cost… I just had to pay for it myself.
I had plenty of money now. If we failed, it would all become scraps of paper anyway. So there was no need to be frugal.

As I scribbled away with my pen, morning came, and
my aide delivered the morning paper earlier than yesterday, pointing out a rather interesting paragraph.

"Hmm."

It was a small human-interest piece tucked away in a corner of the second page.

―Are We Being Played by the Specter of the Revolutionary Army?―
: By Alphons von Stauffen

The executions for the paper mill incident have been decided. Daniel Mateo, who confessed to being a member of the Revolutionary Army, and two immigrants (Fatima Müller, Maria Schultz) will all be executed. From the standpoint of punishing traitors who threaten the peace of the Empire, this may seem like a just verdict.

However, we must ask. Is this verdict truly 'just'? If not, are we simply being swayed by the specter of the Revolutionary Army?

Among those who stood in the dock were an immigrant mother and daughter who could not even properly speak the Imperial language. Even at the moment their death sentences were announced, they simply stared at the judge with empty eyes, as if they did not understand what it meant.

(Omitted)

No evidence that the immigrants were involved with the Revolutionaries was made public. Whether it wasn't discovered or simply wasn't disclosed is unknown, but for the mother and daughter who were used by a member of the Revolutionary Army, the extreme penalty is now not deportation, but execution…

I smiled.
Alphons von Stauffen. A reporter who could become a beacon in this dark world.
He had taken a slight bite at me.
No, the newspaper company had let him take a bite.
I had expected as much. The Zephestians and Ebenholzes had a long history of looking down on the press, however high and mighty they were as a business that sold pens and prose.

It seems it's about time to start making deals with the press.

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Pub: 25 Oct 2025 19:39 UTC

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